Why, Mulder?
by musicforlife101
Summary: Angry questions lead to some startling answers. Pure MSR fluff. if you want substance I suggest you read something else, just a warning.


**Note: Ok so this was just something random I wrote in my notebook last night, well this morning, at like 1 am. It really doesn't fit anywhere specific in the series timeline. My version of how Mulder and Scully would end up admitting their true feelings, because we all know they argue. =]**

**Spoilers: Millennium, Squeeze (just for a character but if you don't know him it won't affect it too much) and I think that's it.**

"Why Mulder?! Why do you do these things?! Sometimes you say or do things that are actually kind of sweet! But then you act all territorial and possessive of me! Why?! And why do you always ditch me Mulder?! Huh?! Why do you do it?!"

Scully was pissed. No, she was furious. Their latest case had taken quite a toll on her and Mulder's antics were getting on her already shot nerves. It wasn't even an X File. They had been temporarily reassigned to work with some of the other agents on a task force in search of a ransom kidnapper in the DC area and Mulder had made it very clear that he didn't like working with them. That's not to mention the fact that Tom Colton had been heading up said task force and was making their lives hell. Scully forcefully threw herself into the chair in front of Mulder's desk. She huffed, fuming. He leaned against the edge of his desk, near her but not too close.

"Can I say something Scully?" His tone was slightly clipped but otherwise calm as he addressed his frustrated partner. Her silent fuming was his only encouragement to continue.

"When I ditch you it usually means that I'm going off to do something stupid and dangerous and I don't want you to get hurt. I know you can take care of yourself, and _me_ a lot of the time, but I don't know what I would do if I let something happen to you! Is that so terrible?" As he said this his voice rose a little, but his anger level was still nowhere near hers.

She looked back at him, her expression unwavering and her frustration still evident. Then she shook her head in the negative. It was so slight it was nearly imperceptible, but her anger was softening ever so slightly due to her partner's confession.

"I'm territorial and possessive, especially in the bullpen with all the 'normal' agents because maybe I don't like the way all the male agents look at you. In fact, I hate it! It makes me want to pull out my gun, or start throwing punches! Sometimes I actually think I would if Skinner wouldn't fire me in a flat second!" Mulder's voice had become less angry but it had been replaced with a bitter tone.

Scully's expression never changed but her thoughts did. She wondered why Mulder wouldn't let her at least try to date other people. It wasn't as if she was oblivious to their intentions. Even if she didn't exactly love the idea herself, she didn't see him offering anytime soon and she could hear her biological clock ticking. It was true that she loved Mulder but she doubted he felt the same, so she had accepted the fact that she would have to keep looking for second best.

"And how is that Mulder?! How do they look at me?!" She was angry with him again because, while she knew that many of the other agents had desire to date her she still had no idea what he meant by how they _looked _at her. So now he was preparing his defense.

"Like their a pack of hungry wolves, or crazed shoppers at a one day sale. They look at you like they own you, like you belong to them, like they can consume you! No one could ever own you! Ever! You belong to you! And no one could ever consume you! The way they look at you pisses me off because it belittles you. They can't even appreciate you for the amazing person that you are and that just makes me so…ughhh!…it makes me so god damned angry!"

Scully was a bit taken aback by his confession. She didn't really have any good guesses about his answer to that particular question but this wouldn't have even made her list of possibilities.

"As for the 'sweet' things, Scully, I do and say them because I mean them. Because I don't see you the way the rest of the Bureau, hell the rest of the world, sees you!" His tone was agitated again but his eyes relayed the truth in his words.

"How is that Mulder?! How do they see me?! How do you see me?!" She was fed up and wanted real answers, not this cryptic crap that he kept spouting.

"They see Special Agent Dana Scully, gun-toting, power-suit-wearing, ass-kicking, very pretty, off-limits, non-dating Ice Queen! Do you understand that?! That's all they think of you!" This clearly made him more angry, because he stood up from his position leaning against the desk and was waving his arms around in grand gestures. "But I don't see you that way." It took a millisecond for his voice to lower the half octave it had risen in his fury. "I mean, I know that that's who you portray sometimes, but it's not who I see. I see Dana Scully, brilliant, beautiful, feisty, caring woman who is my best friend and keeps me grounded. The one person I trust everything to. The one person I know I love."

He had dropped down onto one knee in front of her chair in order to be closer to her level. He slowly stroked her cheek as her stony expression gave way to one of surprise and something else that Mulder couldn't identify. As his confession sank in, Scully lifted her hand to wrap it around the one Mulder touched her face with. She rolled her small hand around his larger one and laid their joined fingers in her lap, where she proceeded to stare at them for a few moments before looking up and meeting her partner's gaze.

"I love you too Mulder. I'm sorry for getting so angry. I just thought you were being all alpha male because you could. I never thought…" her voice trailed off and she let herself get lost in Mulder's rich hazel eyes.

"Scully?"

"Hmm?" She snapped out of it, slightly distracted.

"Is this the part where I get to kiss you and we skip off into the sunset together?" he asked, only half serious, using his typical brand of humor to try to lighten the mood that had been enveloped in anger so short a time before.

Scully giggled. She actually giggled. The rarity of the event was not lost on Mulder. "I don't know about skipping off into the sunset, but if you don't kiss me soon I'll be forced to take matters into my own hands." Her smile was mischievous and her full lips pouted out in a way that just begged him to kiss her, so kiss her he did. It wasn't a simple peck as it had been in the hospital on the millennium, and it wasn't a comforting forehead kiss after some tragic ordeal as it had so often been. It was a tender, soft, loving kiss and it was all they had been wanting and waiting for all these years.

Mulder finally knew what that look on Scully's face had been. It was love and he was sure he was going to be seeing a lot more of it now.

END


End file.
